ALISTER Jack is set to be given a peerage despite concerns within the Tory Party that handing the Scottish Secretary a seat in the Lords would be “problematic”, reports say.
On Sunday, The Observer reported that Jack is set to be given a life peerage – as has been widely anticipated since he refused to take one from Boris Johnson in May 2023.
If Jack had accepted the seat in the Lords, it would have triggered an uncomfortable by-election for the Conservatives in his Dumfries and Galloway constituency.
There were suggestions he had only deferred taking the peerage in a “sleazy backroom deal with Rishi Sunak” which would allow him to stay on as an MP until the General Election.
Those reports now seem to have been confirmed, with The Observer quoting sources within the Conservative Party as saying Jack was set to become a life peer in Sunak's Dissolution Honours list.
However, that paper also said that Tory insiders were concerned that rewarding Jack would be “problematic” given his involvement in the betting scandal which has engulfed the Conservatives.
At least five Conservatives are being investigated by the Gambling Commission as part of its inquiry into allegations of bets on the timing of the General Election on July 4. However, Jack is not one of them.
The Scottish Secretary has denied all wrongdoing despite having admitted to placing three bets on the timing of the General Election, winning £100.
Jack had initially claimed to have won more than £2000 with his bets, but later insisted that was a “joke”.
Writing on social media, SNP candidate John Nicolson said: "So the Tory Cabinet minister who placed a bet and said he'd won £2000 on the Election date – and then said he'd lied as he'd won less than that – would be sent to the Lords for life.
"Isn't this the most Tory thing you've ever heard?"
Labour peer George Foulkes said: "Membership of the @UKHouseofLords, while it still remains, should be considered as a job of work not an honour to be handed to pals."
First Minister John Swinney has said that Jack should be barred from the Lords due to his election bets.
“He’s sat round a Cabinet table and he’s been party to discussions around all sorts of questions which will have had bearing on the election and he’s taken that information from the Cabinet table and placed bets on at the bookies. It’s completely and utterly unethical,” Swinney said.
“So, I’ve thought for a long time Alister Jack was unfit to be a minister by his conduct.
“But he’s certainly unfit to go to the House of Lords – and there should be no question of going to the House of Lords after this.”
